


When In Love

by teakturn



Series: 'Tis the Season [3]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Engagement, Erik Has Feelings, Erik Killmonger Feels, Erik Killmonger Has Feelings, Erik is a Sweetheart, F/M, Interviews, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Past Child Abuse, Soft Erik Killmonger, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24078361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teakturn/pseuds/teakturn
Summary: THEY'RE ENGAGED!!! INTERVIEW WITH THE PRINCE OF WAKANDA & FIANCE FALLON KING INSIDE...
Relationships: Erik Killmonger/Fallon King, Erik Killmonger/Original Female Character(s), Erik Killmonger/Original Female Character(s) of Color
Series: 'Tis the Season [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580824
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

"Miss King you have a call for you. Shall I tell them you're busy?"

Fallon peered over her sunglasses at her second assistant Rika. Her wide, dark brown eyes shone in competition with her equally dark, smooth brown skin. Like Fallon, Rika had spent three days being scrubbed and moisturize until she glowed from within. Her close-fitted dress, swept the stone floor of the spa, hiding her bare feet.

Fallon adjusted her bathrobe to cover one shoulder, leaving her other hand undisturbed in the manicurist's grip.

"Is it the Royal family?" Fallon asked. She held a hand out and a large mug of tea perfectly warmed, was set in her hand.

Rika answered while Fallon took a slow sip, "No. Their good morning and good luck messages from earlier are all that stand. Although," Rika's pretty, freshly tinted brows tilted with mild frustration. "It seems Princess Shuri and Prince N'Jadaka have edited your schedule somewhat."

Fallon smiled and shook her head. Those two had entered a hopefully unofficial war for her attention during Fallon's two-week vacation. Shuri had made it her mission to make herself Fallon's favorite royal.

She had a slight leg up on Erik being that Fallon spent almost six months of the year on the road or in Wakanda. But Erik made up for all their lost time by pulling some strings and got two weeks off right before their engagement announcement. 

Fallon still couldn't believe there was going to be an engagement announcement!

"Do you still have the original copy of my schedule? Before all their add ons?" Fallon sipped deeply at her tea. She didn't know what sweeteners Wakandan's used but she didn't think she could ever go to plain white sugar. Not after this.

"Of course, Miss. The person on the communicae claims to be your mother."

Fallon froze. _Her mother?_

Rika was oblivious, "A woman has been harassing security for several months for access to you. There was an immediate background check done and while records indicate a relation…" her assistant hesitated. The first time Fallon could ever remember seeing her do so.

"Prince N'Jadaka thought it best we keep her away until after the announcement and press tour." Rika's shoulders hunched as if she expected to be yelled at.

The gesture made Fallon aware of how tense she was. Fallon put out her tea to be grabbed and someone did. She gestured for the manicurist to free her other hand all while sitting up in the spa chair. It was all too easy to go from bougie and unbothered to Fallon's typical overthinking self.

"If Erik says to leave it till after the press tour then we should. But if you could call him for me, Rika, I'd really appreciate it."

It was a wonder Fallon sounded as professional as she did. On the outside, she was Miss King. The woman who handled royal social engagements, met politicians, holy men, and billionaires. Her job was challenging and never boring, even if it kept her away from the love of her life for most of the year. 

And it didn't hurt that it paid more annually than she'd made as an assistant in five years.

Fallon had gotten this job after a whole lot of hard work, luck, and perfect timing. This job had been the light at the end of a tunnel where the darkness was poverty in one of the most expensive cities in the country. There had been no mother to call for money or support when Fallon's $400 checks would be devoured by bills and necessities. 

She'd learned hunger and resilience but it had been hard as hell. And Fallon hadn't had a mother harassing anyone to talk to her while all that went on.

Rika returned with her beads, her professional mask mostly in place. Fallon noticed her shaking hands and lingering eyes immediately. After thanking her, Fallon suggested she get a massage and take the rest of the day off. Rika looked conflicted but relieved. She put up the expected amount of protest and then easily disappeared with a polite bow.

Dammit, Fallon thought they'd worked on the bowing thing. She understood that she was adjacent to royalty because of Erik, but Fallon wasn't royalty. None of the servants in the castle care. It's a respect thing, Erik's explained. But who could ever really get used to another human being bowing to them?

Fallon dialed Erik on her kimoyo beads. She was still a little awed at the intuitive holographic display. She still didn't know all the tricks yet, Shuri and Erik liked teasing her more than teaching her, but using the beads felt like second nature. She can't remember ever needing her phone in Wakanda. 

Erik answered quickly, which was suspicious. She knew he had a meeting at this hour with his cousin. Her suspicions grew when her fiance's handsome face came into view. A mischievous smile and heart-stealing dimple already cracking his face in half.

"Hey, beautiful wassup? I was just thinkin' bout you." Erik's tone was light though kind of breathless. Fallon couldn't see what was going on around him but the way shadows moved across his face gave Fallon the impression he was outside.

"Mmhmm then why you out of breath," Fallon narrowed her eyes, wishing she could make them zoom in. _Was that a trickle of sweat on the side of his face?_

"'Cause you're breathtaking, duh! Ne-xt question-" Erik's voice broke off midsentence into laughter and the shadows across his face moved faster. His face stayed towards the kimoyo beads but his eyes were on someone or something off-screen.

"What are you doing?" Fallon felt a tugging at her shoulder, the manicurist nodded at her unfinished hand.

"Oh! Enkosi," Fallon extended her hand before refocusing on Erik.

She'd lost his focus entirely. Now he was looking back and over his shoulder, breathlessly laughing and teasing whoever was with him.

"M'Baku you big bitch if you tackle me again-"

A deep, booming laugh followed by a flurry of words in Xhosa Fallon only half understood. 

"T get ya, boy!" Erik warned, laughter still in his voice, "I'll have him eatin' bananas through a straw -he keeps fucking around!"

Fallon couldn’t see Erik anymore. He’d dropped the kimoyo beads out of eyeline in favor of jogging so all she could see was a dizzying mix of sky and skin. His laughter, carefree and breathless, filled Fallon with warmth. She loved the way Erik sounded when he laughed and she loved how his whole face relaxed and looked younger. 

More often than not Fallon saw Erik in work mode. He was tough for his employees and the communities he felt responsible for. Erik was an advocate and a handsome Black man with a big mouth. So often the face he put to the outside world was one Fallon didn't know. Her Erik showered her with loving looks and gifts and affection. 

When he laughed how he laughed while hanging with T’Challa and M’Baku, all the worry in Fallon’s body washed away.

She was marrying this man, this big, child disguised as a billionaire prince. They were announcing their engagement in a few hours. Fallon was marrying into the Royal Family! What could the arrival of her mother change? Fallon loved Erik, every bit of him. She loved him when he was being a pigheaded ass and she loved him when he was feeling needy but couldn’t admit it. 

Fallon had her doubts about how a long-distance relationship but Erik had kept his word. He promised she was only a flight away.

Erik spent months following along. He taught her Xhosha and spilled the beans to every royal staffer that the new girl was dating one of the princes. Fallon was sure that only Wakandan patriotism kept their secret in the beginning. Erik himself didn’t care.

In his words, “You know how long it took me to lock you down girl? I’m not about to play games whichu.” And then he’d distracted Fallon from worrying for an impressive two hours.

“Sorry baby,” Erik brought the kimoyo beads back up to eye level. He was dripping sweat, and warm brown skin glowed in the sun. His dark eyes weren’t on the screen, but his smile was only for her. “You need somethin’?”

Smiling at him, Fallon shook her head. Then she remembered he wasn’t looking at her and said, “No, not anymore. Now that I can see your face I forgot why I called,” Pulling her knees up to her chest, Fallon smiled sweetly at the screen.

“Giving your cousin a run for his money?”

“You know it, baby.” Erik’s eyes flicked to the screen then, “You look cute. You at the spa?”

Fallon nodded, her smile widening now that his eyes were on her, “Yep. Getting all cocoa buttered down for you.”

Erik bit his lip. Something offscreen caught his attention. His expression became conflicted, “Baby can I call you back? This nigga done brought out a big ass stick.”

Laughing Fallon called out, “Spar his face M’Baku! We have an appearance tomorrow morning and Monica will kill us if she has to cover up a black eye!”

Erik smacked his teeth, “Baby I’m offended that you think he can even touch me!”

Fallon blew him a kiss and signed off. Erik made a show of catching it and winking at her. With a battle cry, he launched himself at M’Baku and disconnected.


	2. Chapter 2

A fairytale story for the ages, it’s what every little girl dreams of. 

Fallon King had been born to teen parents in Compton, California. Her father and mother weren’t together long, and Fallon moved out of her mother’s house at sixteen years old. Estranged from her family for years, the young woman worked what jobs she could. fOt wasn't until a friend helped her get a job at the Wakandan Outreach Center that her life changed for the better.

She never expected to meet a prince.

“People will call me so stupid-” King says later.

“Stop it,” Prince N’Jadaka, Erik to King and his employees at the Outreach Centers, lovingly moves her hands from where it tries to hide her face. He kisses the back of her hand and says, “I kept a very low profile at work. She couldn’t have known.”

King for her part shakes her head at him. An equally adoring smile on her face, “Erik you were on the cover of every teen magazine ever when you were sixteen! I don’t know how I missed it.”

They share loving looks and touches easily. The affection between the two of them as real as the diamond gracing King’s ring finger. It’s easy to see the love between the young couple but hard to see how it took so long for King to figure outPrince N’Jadaka was Wakandan royalty.

The two met at the Los Angeles branch of Wakandan Outreach Center. A charitable initiative Prince N’Jadaka cocreated with his cousins, King T’Challa and the Princess Shuri. King worked as a secretary in the Events Department for five years before the two ever went on a date.

And what finally convinced her to give the Pining Prince a chance?

“I had my doubts about Erik’s intentions I’ll be honest. When he and I met I wasn’t even thinking about relationships and he was very much my boss. But,” here King looks down at their intertwined hands. 

The Prince never lets a moment go by without some contact between them. During the interview, he plays with King’s fingers, brushes her hair off her shoulder if it gets in her way. King leans into him and looks to him more often than not as she speaks.

Often I, the interviewer, feel like a fly on the wall in the face of their relationship. It’s as if they orbit each other.

“He listened to me when I told him why I couldn’t see us together.”

That’s right, Prince N’Jadaka asked King out and she turned him down. More than once.

“I shot my shot and she looked me dead in the eye and said ‘why?’!” the prince later jokes.

King looks embarrassed but doesn’t refute his claim. “I wasn’t thinking about relationships when we met. And even though I didn’t know he was a prince I had all these ideas about who he was that held me back from seeing...him.”

Soon after the two agreed to start a relationship, Ms. King was hired by the Royal Wakandan family. They offered her a dream job, one that would separate the new couple just as they’d found each other.

“You weren’t worried about what a long-distance relationship would do to you two? Your relationship was still new when you got the job offer right Ms. King?”

Prince N’Jadaka shrugs, “I’d waited my whole life to be with Fallon. I wouldn’t let anything keep me from making it work. I knew I wanted to marry Fallon the first day we met.”

At this, Ms. King looks at Prince N’Jadaka with surprise. Aparrantely he’d never told her this.

“Do you mean that?” She asks. As if there’s anything to doubt in the loving way the prince meets her gaze.

“Of course. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”

Prince N’Jadaka and Ms. King plan on tying the knot with friends and family in December. Representatives from the Wakandan Royal family have confirmed that a live stream of the ceremony will be available for free at the link provided below the article. All photos used in this article were approved by the official press office of the Wakandan Royal Family.


End file.
